The Grenada gazette. (Grenada, Miss.) 1885-18??, 1887-05-21

"PS~eo' nAay A. 4NV' W, 10 Wiz AOl~
lowing comment upon a letter COM
m%unicated: Il must confess l am
afraid that my correspondent had too
much reason to be a little out of humor
at the treatment Of his daughter;
but l conclude that he would
have been much more so had he
seen one OF those kissing dances in
which, Will Honeycomb assures me,
they are obliged to dwell almost a
minute on the fair ones lips or they
will be too quick for the music and
dance quite out of time"
In Russia the Eastern salutation is a
kiss. Each member Of the family
~salutes the other; chance a%cquaint-
ances on meeting kiss; principals kiss
their employees; the General kisses his
officers; the officers kiss their soldiers;
the Gar kisses his family, retinuc,
court and attendants, and even his
officers on parade, the sentinels at the
palace gates, and a select party of
private soldiers-probably deliberately
prepared for this "royal salute" In
other parts the poorest scrf, meeting a
high-born dame in the street. has but
to say "Chist is risen," and he will re-
ceive a kiss and the reply: "He is
risen truly"
In Finland, according to Bayard
Taylor, the women resent as an insult
a salute upon the lips. A Finnish
matron, hearing of our English Gus
tom Of kissing. declared that did her
husband attempt such a liberty she
would treat him with such box upon
the ears that he should not readily for
get.
In Iceland. illegitimate and Illicit
kissing had deterrent penalties of great
severity. For kissing another mans
wife, with or without her consent, the
punishment of exclusion or its pecu-
mary equivalent was awarded. A man
rendered himself liable for kissing an
unmarried woma under legal guar
dianship without her consent; and, eve
if the lady consented. the law required
that every kiss should be wiped out by
a fine of three marks, equivalent to one
hundred and forty ellis of wadmal, a
quantity, we are told, sufficient to fur
nish a whole ships crew with pilot jack
cts. Truly such kisses were expensive
luxuries. The code of Justinian says
"that if a man betrothed a woman by
the kiss, and either party died before
marriage, the heirs were entitled to
half the donations, and the survivor to
the other half; but if the contract was
made without the solemn kiss the
whole of the espousal gifts must be re-
stored to the donors and their heirs-at-
law"
Kissing in many religions has played
its part as a mark Of alteration or ven
Grafton. In Hosea xiii, 2, speaking of
idolatry, we find the sentences: Let
the men that sacrifice kiss the calves"
Again. the discontented prophet is told
that ever in idolatrous Israel there are
1000 knees which have not bowed to
Baal, "and every mouth which hath
not kissed him." The Mohammedans,
on their pious pilgrimage to Mecca,
kiss the sacred black stone and the four
corners of the Kaaba. The Roman
priest kisses the aspergillium, and
Palm Sunday the palm. Kissing the
Pope's toe was a fashion introduced by
one of the Lcos, who had mutilated his
right hand and was too vain to show
the stump.
Kisses have been the reward of
genius, as when Voltaire was publicly
kissed in the stage box by the young
and lovely Duchesse de Villars, who
was ordered by an enthusiastic pit
thus to reward the author Of
"Merope." In politics they have
been used rs brides. as in
the famous Eatanswill election of the
"Pickwick Papers," and also in a still
more famous election. For, when Fox
was contesting the hard-won seat at
Westminster. the beautiful Duchess of
Devonshire offered to kiss all who voted
for the great statesman. And fully as
famous, and perhaps, in a better cause,
was the self-denying patriotism Of the
beautiful Lady Gordon. who, when the
ranks of the Scottish regiments had
been badly thinned by cruel Badajoz
and Salamanca, turned recruiting
sergeant, and to tempt the gallant lads
placed the recruiting shilling in her
lips, from whence who would might
take It with his own.
Kisses in our days have their penal
ties il they should be too richly
poached. In the eyes Of the law. kiss
ing a lady without her will and per-
| mission is a common assault, punish
able by a fine and Imprisonment; and
It il no uncommon thing to see in the
daily police reports cases whore a too
susceptible gentleman has had to paw